Minor in limbo

Last week, during a trip to Latin America, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden added a stop in Guatemala to meet with Mexican and Central American leaders, in order to develop a plan to fight the crisis that the massive arrival of immigrant minors has caused in the U.S. border.

Apparently, everyone is pointing fingers. However, there have been no proposals that go beyond having good intentions.

Biden asked each country to be responsible for its fellow citizens, and promised millions of dollars in aid for development plans to tackle poverty and unemployment and foster productivity, the alleged endemic causes of migration.

On the other hand, Central American countries argued that these minors should be reunited with their parents, many of whom already live in this country. Guatemala in particular called for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for its citizens, as a measure to alleviate illegal immigration.

It all points to a very complicated solution, in which immigrant minors have fallen prisoner to an exhausted immigration system and to countries that do not foresee economic improvement.

The minors are motivated by a rumor that claims that they will obtain legal status when they enter the U.S. That is why neither several million dollars nor good intentions will stop them.

The United States can’t handle this problem. Some of the detainees have already been released, while officials are improvising where to house others until a judge determines their immigration status.

Like an endless cycle, it all goes back to immigration reform. If politicians return to the old habit of pointing fingers at each other instead of looking for solutions, this will become an unsolvable problem—a problem that can only worsen and lead to undesirable consequences